Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Research Proposal: Testing and Comparing Perception of Japanese Learners on R and L

Introduction

It has long been
acknowledged that second language learners have difficulty producing sounds
that do not occur in their native language.One example of this is the
difficulty distinguishing between r and l sounds for Japanese nationals learning English
as a second language.This paper will look at the research history
behind Japanese perception of r and l, and suggest ways that it can be further
tested.

Literature Review

Human
speech is capable of a wide range of sounds known as phonics.However not all of these sounds are the same
in every language.It is a well
documented fact that adult learners of second languages will have trouble
learning phonics that do not occur in their native language.Difficulties arise not only in the production
of second language phonics, but also in the perception of these phonics (V.
Hazan et al ., 2005).

Among
English as a second language learners, one of the most prominent examples of
this is the Japanese difficulty in distinguishing between English r and l
sounds.This is because neither of
these sounds occurs in Japanese.There
is a liquid consonant in Japanese that is usually written in English translation
as an “r” (for example in such words as “samurai,” “Hiroshima,”“Rashomon” et cetera.)However in
the native Japanese accent this sound is actually somewhere in between the
English r and l sound (Guion et al., 2000).Therefore Japanese speakers have great difficulty correctly pronouncing
r and l sounds in English words.

Although
this phenomenon has long been informally observed, it was tested by Hiromu
Goto, in 1971, who found that not only were native Japanese speakers unable to
correctly pronounce r and l sounds, but also that they were unable to
distinguish the sounds even when enunciated clearly by American voices (Goto,
1971), indicating that both production and perception of r and l sounds
presents problems for Japanese learners.

Since
this time, many studies have been done exploring both Japanese production and
perception.What is the relationship
between the two of them, and under what conditions can they be improved?

Much of the
work in particular has been done on perception.In part, this is because it is easier to test perception, particularly
when testing large number of participants simultaneously.But it is also because perception testing may
be a more accurate way of testing the participants’ knowledge.It has been argued that many learners of
English feel that their accent is part of their individual identity, and can be
reluctant to switch to a received pronunciation (Jenkins, 2000).And at least one study confirmed this among
some Japanese learners of English (Benson, 1991).

In
tests conducted in the early 1990s, it was shown that it was possible to improve Japanese perception of r and l sounds through training by asking participants to identify
a sound, and then giving them immediate feedback on whether or not it was
correct.However even
after such training, none of the participants reached native level competence ( Lively, et al. 1993). And, although the exact relationship
between production and perception is still unclear, it has been shown that Japanese
participants exposed to such training will have a corresponding positive effect
on pronunciation (Bradlow et al., 1997).

However
another area of interest was under what conditions perception improved
naturally.Several studies focused on
Japanese students living in the United
States, and found that they showed improved perception over Japanese learners who had
little to no contact with native speakers.

One
study found that Japanese learners who had frequent contact with native English
speakers performed much better on perception tests than Japanese people who did
not (MacKain et. al, 1981).Another
study found that Japanese adults who had lived in the United States for an average of 21 years
identified r and l sounds more accurately than those who had only been in the United States
for only 2 years (Flege et al. 1996).

One
such study, published by Aoyama et al. in 2003, tested the perception of 16
Japanese adults (and their children) living in Texas. The participants were tested twice, one year
apart, on their perception of r and l.The first testing was after the participants had been living in the United States
for an average of 0.5 years, the second testing was at an average of 1.6 years
length or residence.It was found that the perception of the
Japanese children improved dramatically between the first and second test, but
the Japanese adults’ perception did not improve significantly (Aoyama et al.,
2003).

Besides
age, length of residence in a foreign country, or exposure to native speakers,
there are also a few other factors which may influence accurate perception of r
and l.There is also evidence that familiarity
with the word being spoken helps aid perception, even with Japanese people who
have had little experience living abroad (Flege et al. 1996).And several tests have shown that Japanese
speakers will be more likely to correctly identify a work containing r than l
in perception tasks (Bradlow, 1997).

This Study

When
discussing the results of improved perception over time in Japanese nationals
living abroad, it is important to establish control groups with students
learning English as a foreign language in Japan.And when testing Japanese EFL students, it
would be interesting to see if their perception changed at all during their 6
years of English study.

Japanese
students begin studying English in the first year of chuugakko (which is often
equated with the American term “junior high school”).All Japanese students must by law complete 3
years of English education in the junior high school as part of their compulsory
education.Japanesehigh school (kotogakko) is not technically
part of the government mandated compulsory education, but in an educational
society like Japan it is increasingly becoming assumed that most students will
continue on, and almost all of Japanese students graduate from high school. Japanese high school graduates will have
completed a total of 6 years of English education.

Because
these English classes are mostly taught by Japanese nationals speaking English
as their second language, it has been widely assumed that the students’ pronunciation
and perception of l and r will not improve during this time. And indeed, studies of Japanese perception
with Japanese participants living insideJapan show that even University graduates perform little better than
chance on perception tests (see Goto, 1971, among others).

On the
other hand, studies such as Aoyama et al., 2003 indicate that Japanese adults,
who have completed 6 years of English education in Japan,
start out with statistically significant higher perception than their children
who had not yet started English education in Japan.(Although while living in the United States,
the children later quickly catch up and surpass their parents by the time of
Aoyama et al.’s second testing.)

It
would be interesting to see if there was any, even a slight, change in
perception at all during these six years of English study.And, especially in light of studies
indicating lexical familiarity aids in perception (Flege et al., 1996) it would
be interesting to see if perception accuracy increases on certain words which
are more likely to be known to a sixth year English student than a second year
English student.

It
is more than possible that this test will not yield any interesting results,
and will simply confirm the conventional wisdom that r and l perception is not learned at all in the
Japanese school systems.However either
way these two groups will act as an important control against the other groups
of participants.

Contrasted against Japanese students in the traditional
Japanese school system, it would be interesting to see if Japanese people
attending weekly classes taught by native English speakers acquire any
advantage in regards to perception.

Finally,
it would be interesting to compare these two groups against Japanese people
living abroad in an English environment.

This
last test would in some ways be a duplication of studies which have already
tested the perception of Japanese nationals living abroad, such as the above
work of Aoyama, et al.However the
variables in the study will be adjusted slightly.

The
participants in Aoyama et al.’s study had a mean age of 39.9.This study will seek to examine younger
adults, those here in Melbourne as international or exchange students (18-22)
or on a working holiday (under 30) to see if the age variation results in any significant
differences.

Also,
Aoyama et al.’s adult participants came over to the United States with their Japanese
families, and were married with children.Since people with families often have less time for socializing outside
the home, it might cut down on their exposure time to English.Young unmarried Japanese people living
abroad might socialize more with native English speakers, and might acquire the
perception skills with more accuracy. And students especially studying in Melbourne will have lots
of exposure to English.Indeed, at the end of their study, Aoyama et
al. acknowledged that one of the reasons their adult participants might have
shown little improvement in perception was because they might have had limited
chances to speak English.As Aoyama et
al. noted, the children went to school every day and received a constant stream
of English input, where some of the Japanese housewives might not have received
this input.

Finally,
Aoyama et al.’s test, and most other tests of Japanese perception to date, took
place with participants living in the United States.This study will seek to test Japanese
students living in or around Melbourne,
Australia, which
has its own unique accent and culture which might further influence the
results.

Research Questions

1.During the course of their normal scholastic education in Japan, do Japanese students
learning English exhibit any significant improvement of perception of R and L?And if so, is this increased perception
related to lexical familiarity?

2.How do Japanese students studying at English conversation schools taught by
native speakers compare to Japanese students solely studying in the public
schools?

3.Do Japanese young adults living in Melbourne
exhibit an improved perception of rand l compared with Japanese students who
have never been abroad?

4.Among the Japanese living in Melbourne,
does fossilization occur over time in their perception abilities?

Method

Participants

The first two comparative tests will involve Japanese students studying in
public schools.Any students who have
spent significant amounts of time abroad or who receive private English classes
from native speakers will be excluded from the test.

Because
first year English learners in a Japanese junior high school start out with
zero knowledge of the alphabet, it might be premature to ask these complete beginner
students to discriminate between different English words.By the second year, however, basic spelling
and phonics should, in theory, be learned.So the first test will be conducted with second year English students in
a Japanese junior high school.

These
tests will be compared against a second group of students studying either in a
Japanese high school, or a Japanese university. (The latter being preferable depending on
access.)

The
third group will be students attending private English schools taught by native
English teachers, but who have not lived outside of Japan.

As
this group consists mostly of individuals rather than whole classes, access to
statistically significant participants might be a problem.But where ever possible, care will be taken
to match both the age of these students and the length of their instruction
period.

The
fourth group will be Japanese people studying in Melbourne or doing a working holiday.

Instrument

All
participants will be tested using minimal word pairs focusing on the
differences between r and l.For
example: light and right, or lock and rock.(For a complete list of minimal pairs, see the instrument included in
the appendix.)

The
pairs will be arranged in two columns, one under the R column, another one
under the L column.Each pair will be
numbered.The participants will circle
the word that they think they hear.

Procedure

Participants
will listen to a native speaker read out different words, and then write in the
blanks provided either an r or and l depending on what word they think they
hear.The native speaker will read the
words in a pre-arranged order that will be the same for the initial tests in
all 4 groups.

Before
testing the students, the reader will first pilot test this instrument on other
native speakers to certify that the pronunciation is discernable by the
standards of native speakers.

All
the groups in Japan
will only be tested once.The fourth
group, living in Melbourne,
will be tested three times at two-week intervals to determine if their
perception during this time remains consistent, and to test for either improvement
in, or fossilization of, perception.Because this last group will be tested multiple times, the order of
words read aloud will change between tests.

Analysis

All the results from individuals will be collected, and analysed together
in their respective groups.

For
each group, the amount of correct answers will be averaged.

It
will be assumed that by chance each group will get 50% of the questions
right.Therefore group results at or
around 50% will be seen as not having any perception of r-l discrimination.

The
junior high school second year learners will be the baseline against which all
other groups will be compared for improvement.(It is anticipated that this group will have scores at or around 50%.)Groups average test scores will be compared
against each other using an independent t-test.

In
testing for the effect of lexical familiarity on perception, each individual
minimal pair number will be looked at separately.If there appears to be a difference in
percentage correct between groups for a particular minimal pair, a chi-square
test will be run to confirm significance.These words would then be compared to the vocabulary that a high school
English student in Japan
is likely to know.

In addition to between
groups t-test, a dependent t-test will be run to compare the multiple tests on taken
by the Japanese group in Melbourne

Limitations/
Anticipated Problems

There are some severe limitations on the generalizability of the first
test.One classroom, in one city, can
not be generalized to all of Japan.Even though the Japanese education system is famous for its highly homogenous
national curriculum, there is still no way to account for the variation
produced by individual teachers.Some Japanese teachers of English themselves
have pronunciation that is little better than their students.Others have, through study or travel abroad,
managed to acquire an accent that is close to native like.

It
might be possible to take this variation into account by testing the perception
and accents of the teachers themselves.However, this would only account for the class’s current English
teacher.In larger Japanese schools the
English teacher for each grade, and often for each class with a grade, would be
different.In order to take
into account the cumulative effect of 6 years of English education, all the
teachers who had contact with the class would need to be tested.Because the educational board transfers
teachersfrom school to school every
year, it would be difficult to track down all the past teachers.

In
addition to the teacher’s individual accent, there is also the teacher’s use of
additional audio visual materials.The
textbook manufactures often include CDs, and videos with the textbook (usually
featuring native speakers modelling correct pronunciation) which some Japanese
teachers might use more often than others.

And,
since the beginning of the assistant language teacher (ALT) programs, many
schools even make use of a native speaker who will occasionally assist in the
English class.

The advent
of the assistant language teacher program, which began in the 1980s, and came
into wide use in the 1990s, means that many young Japanese students are getting
more input from native speakers then they did 30 years ago.And it might mean that tests on Japanese
perception, such as Goto, 1971, or even more recent tests, have now become
outdated.And it represents yet another
reason why it might be interesting to take another look at the perception of
Japanese learners in Japan.

However
at the same time it represents another variable in the students’ educational
history that might be difficult to accurately account for.Between
schools, and often even between different classes within schools, there is much
discrepancy between the frequency of the ALT’s visits, and the amount of actual
teaching time the Japanese teacher is willing to allot to the ALT during these
visits.

Because
it is impossible to accurately account for all these variables, the results of
this study will clearly not be generalizable to all classes and all
situations.The most it can hope to do
is to disprove one or the other extreme position, and thus perhaps establish a
parameter around which future studies could build. If there was no significant improvement, it
would be established that it is possible in at least some cases for a class of
Japanese students to receive 6 years of English education and to show no
improvement in their perception of R and L sounds.Conversely a significant increase in
perception would show that in at least some cases it is possible for perception
to improve in classroom education alone.

Another
variable will be the particular native speaker who reads out the words.Every person has their own peculiar accent,
voice, and reading style.Japanese
listeners might find one native speaker’s voice easier to discern than another’s.Even within the same person, when reading
through a list of words at different times it is likely that the pronunciation,
stress, or volume would be slightly different between one reading and another.

If
one single recording was made and used for all the different tests, it would
add more internal validity to this project.However, in so much as the voice of the single native speaker used to
make the single recording might not represent the pronunciation of all native
speakers, there would still be the problem of external validity.

Also,
as with any test involving listening, the quality of the device used to play
the sound recording, the volume at which it is played, and, in particular, the
location and the background noises inherent to that location are all factors
that it might not be possible to control for.But in so far as it is possible, care should be taken to minimize
background noises and make the volume level consistent.

Conclusion

This study will seek to improve
understanding of how Japanese perception of the English consonants r and l are
acquired.Building on previous research,
it will seek to answer if perception can be acquired naturally, or if it requires
training.And if this perception can be
acquired naturally, the study will examine under what circumstances it can be
acquired.Can perception simply be
acquired in the English classroom in Japan?Or does regular contact and private
instruction from a native English speaker make a difference?Or can this perception only be acquired
living in an English speaking country?And if so, for how long?And does
perception steadily improve during the time spent the English speaking country,
or does fossilization of perception set in at some point.

It is hoped that a better
understanding of all these questions can be reached through this proposed
study.

Because
confusion of r and l sounds is one of the major frustrations for both Japanese
students and their English teachers, determining under what conditions
perception is best acquired is useful for pedagogical reasons.

Because of the shy nature of many Japanese
students, it has long been a pedagogical dilemma over how and when to correct
pronunciation.Teachers are often afraid
to over-correct their pronunciation for fear of making the students overly
self-conscious.On the other hand, there
is the fear that letting repeated pronunciation errors go unchallenged will
lead to fossilization.Therefore, in as
much as perception is related to production, it is useful to better understand
the conditions under which perception is acquired.Is it simply enough for a teacher to model
correct pronunciation for their students, or does more active intervention need
to take place?Because this study also
examines Japanese students studying in Melbourne,
it will also be useful for ESL teachers as well as EFL teachers.

Hazan, V., Sennema,
A., Iba, M. and Faulkner A. (2005). “Effects of audio-visual perceptual
training on the perception and production of consonants by Japanese learners of
English.” Speech Commun. 47, 360-378

Grade and Professor's CommentGrade 70 out of 100.0
Comments: This is a fairly interesting topic but an underdeveloped
proposal. The lit review is too brief and is missing crucial information
about the target phonemes, especially a full articulatory description.
You'll need to have a look at the relevant literature in phonetics, and
the Sem. 2 subject "English phonetics & phonology" will also be
helpful. You should also reflect more on transfer, particularly phonetic
transfer. As to the design, testing the group in Melbourne in
2-week intervals is not likely to render any meaningful results because
the time is to short for them to develop. I would recommend dropping
this longitudinal component from the study.In the analysis section, I
don't quite understand what you're planning to do with chi-square. The
limitations section is also far too long and rambling. The references
are not APA style. Overall, it's also not clear what the significance of
the study is but more phonetics background might help you embed it in a
larger theoretical concern.